Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Feelies - Everybody's Got Something To Hide (Except Me And My Monkey)

(Stiff, 1980)

I’m not quite sure why Stiff chose “Everybody’s Got Something To Hide (Except Me and My Monkey)” as the single from Crazy Rhythms… maybe there was hope that the novelty appeal of such an unusual cover selection would sell a few copies? No idea. Anyway, the Feelies replace the Beatles’ aggressive clang with nervous jitter here, but there’s definitely some AOK muscle behind the wisely-emphasized drumming. While totally inconsequential, it’s a fast, fun version of a rarely-covered Lennon toss-off. The more serious “Original Love” is similar in feel, with some nice Velvets-style guitar playing and deep vocals that make the whole thing oddly reminiscent of early Dream Syndicate. Just… geekier. Listening to this stuff after a few years of experiencing the bands in the extended NYC Cake Shop family, there’s no denying that the herky-jerky college-rockers of yesterday and today owe a heapin’ helpin’ of thankya to these goofs. Kiss their tennis shoes, fellas.

1 comment:

Donald Brown said...

Shit, I still need to get that there "Crazy Rhythms" disc, but I know what you mean about them college-rocker types. If I were to hear "Up on the Roof" right about now, I'm sure I'd be transported instantaneously to my collegiate years, a time when W.'s dad was merely the VP and W. was still in the oil biz. Doesn't sound so bad, does it?